{ about c.a. harms } .

C.A. Harms is like any other addicted reader. She enjoys happy endings and HEA love stories. She hasn't always been a lover of Romance and had once been addicted to a good Mystery. Just recently she has taken on a new liking and now is a full blown Romance novel addict.

She lives in Illinois and enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. You will always find her with her kindle or paperback in hand as it is her favorite pass time.

{ excerpt } .

“I like the red ones,” Josh said before turning back toward the display of lingerie. “Oh, and this color. Is that teal?” He lifted up the pair of panties and held them out before him.

I smiled as a younger guy three feet away ducked his head in embarrassment.

“Now these would look fucking amazing on you. Damn, baby.” Josh’s eyes gleamed in excitement as he looked up at me. “I may go broke if you keep bringing me to places like these.”

I giggled as I grabbed the pink, lacy, and completely see-through nightie he held in his other hand.

“We’ll take one of these in every color you have,” he hollered to the clerk.

I hid my head against his chest and tickled his sides.

“What?” he grunted and tried to pull back from my assault. “You can’t blame me for trying, sweetheart.

Forget about getting dressed daily. I think you should live in these nighties.”

I tilted my head and looked up at him. “You are insatiable.” I rose up on my tiptoes, bringing my lips close to his. “And extremely adorable.”

He closed the distance and kissed me, wrapping his arm around my waist securely. His tongue rolled with mine, and for a moment I forgot we were standing in the center of a department store. Someone cleared their throat, and I broke the kiss to look over my shoulder. An older salesperson was giving us a disapproving glare.

“Sorry,” I offered. When I turned back to face Josh, he was grinning from ear to ear.

“So—” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “—we are getting some of these. Right?”

I lifted up the light pink nightie and shook it in front of his face. “We’ll get this one and the red one,” I assured him as I walked toward the sales clerk at the checkout counter. When I looked back over my shoulder, Josh was smiling brightly and following close behind.

“Now that’s my girl. Looks like tonight we’re staying in.”

I rolled my eyes and turned forward again as he chuckled.

{ trailer } .

{ review } .

At this point, I'd like to say I'm a C.A. Harms fan. I know her writing style, and I know that I can go into one of her books and get just enough emotion to pull me through the pages. Generally, the characters are well-rounded and I can be sucked into the book for a little while, sometimes needing a break.

This was a C.A. Harms I hadn't experienced yet. From the prologue to the double-cliff at the end, I was completely engrossed in Gabby and Josh's story. Now, I'm not sure if it's her writing that's grown, or if she's just really rockin' the new adult-romantic suspense theme (while not necessarily marketed as new adult, these are young working people, so I feel they still fall in the category a little bit), or maybe she's just a talented serial-er (and that's big for me to say, because I don't typically care for serials), but this book just did it for me. Part of me thinks that the serial-ish aspect works, though, because these books (at least this first one) is a bit longer than a typical novella, but is still shorter than a full-on novel that generally comes in at 80k words. It almost feels like a greatly written duology/trilogy (I have no clue how many books will be in this).

We start out with Josh eyeing a pretty girl -- only to find out she's going to be the date from hell. He's saved by a stranger, who all he knows is her name and the feel of her lips -- until the two run into one another afterward.

Josh was very much the career detective. He loved his work. He loved the chase, the thrill, the puzzle... He enjoyed the undercover parts too. His work was the very top of his list -- until he met Gabby.

Gabby was so much fun! She was lippy but with a smile, sassy but with a wink... She was a doll to read about. I very much enjoyed her character. I liked that Josh found peace in her, and while he can't tell her much about his day, she is his calm.

As for side characters, Josh's partners Grey and Mike were a hoot to read. I really, really liked Grey. I liked how he stood up for his boy when the time really counted (even though he was a manwhore in every other scene). Another side character with lots of page time would be Gabby's little sister, Brook -- who is super overprotective and at times probably takes it a little too far.

I loved that this part of their story spans 6 months -- it makes the chemistry and romance feel real; these two characters came off as extremely real and normal and people who you would be neighbors with, and I appreciate that when reading a story. That said, my heart broke with Gabby's at the end... Heck, my heart broke with Josh a few times at the end.

And CHAOS doesn't release until "2016". Ok, I know, that's literally as few as 26 days away, but really, we have to wait for more?!

Hands down, my favorite showing of C.A. Harms's yet. Josh and Gabby, and their posse, are so fun to read about but Josh and Gabby's story has to be finished first. So how many books are we spanning?? And then when they're done, do we start to see others settle?? Time will tell...

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a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

GOODREADS updates

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

TOURING with ...

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FTC Disclosure

Unless otherwise stated, all books I review are books I've received for free from the author or publisher. I receive nothing, monetary or otherwise, for expressing my opinion and/or promoting the books. I do, however, participate in the Amazon Affiliate program, and as such I do receive a small commission when these links are clicked. Affiliate links and free books in no way affect my opinion.